On Eco-tourism and Its Development

First, the connotation and characteristics of ecotourism

In recent years, "eco-tourism" has become a social hot word. It seems that going to the mountains and the sea to see the scenery has something to do with eco-tourism, but few people can say exactly what eco-tourism is and what it will bring us. Eco-tourism was first proposed by Ceballas-Lascurain, a special consultant of IUCN, in 1983. At that time, two main points were given about ecotourism. First, the object of eco-tourism is natural scenery; Second, the object of ecotourism should not be harmed. 65438-0993 International Ecotourism Association defines ecotourism as a tourism activity with dual responsibilities of protecting the natural environment and maintaining the lives of local people. The connotation of eco-tourism emphasizes the protection of natural landscape and is a kind of sustainable tourism. Chilard, coordinator of tourism project of UNEP, gave the following definition: Eco-tourism is tourism in a pure natural environment. Tourists will receive environmental education during the trip. This kind of tourism has no destructive effect on the ecological environment of the destination. In addition, it needs more participation and long-term interests of local communities. Eco-tourism is defined by the Environment Department of the World Bank and the Eco-tourism Society as: going to natural areas purposefully to learn about the culture and natural history of the environment will not destroy nature, but will also enable local communities to gain economic benefits from protecting natural resources. As a kind of green tourism consumption, eco-tourism has aroused great repercussions around the world. Today, only 20 years later, the concept of eco-tourism has spread rapidly to the whole world, and its connotation is constantly enriched. In view of the deteriorating living environment, the author believes that the essence of eco-tourism should include three meanings: first, eco-tourism must be based on the natural environment and meet the strong desire of human beings to return to nature; Second, eco-tourism should reflect environmental awareness and cannot obtain economic benefits at the expense of resource consumption, which is different from traditional tourism; Thirdly, eco-tourism should be based on improving the quality of life of local residents, increasing enough employment opportunities and creating enough economic benefits for the local people.

Compared with traditional tourism, eco-tourism has the following characteristics:

1, protective. Like traditional tourism, eco-tourism will also have a negative impact on tourism resources and tourism environment. However, in comparison, protection is the biggest feature that distinguishes it from traditional tourism. It requires tourists and tourism industry to restrain their own behavior in order to protect tourism resources and tourism environment. The protection of eco-tourism is embodied in all aspects of tourism. For tourism development planners, protection is embodied in following the natural ecological law and the development and design of tourism products in harmony with nature, fully understanding the economic value of tourism resources, bringing the value of resources into cost accounting, and seeking sustainable investment benefits on the basis of scientific development planning; For managers, we should protect the tourism utilization reflected in the capacity of resources and environment, put an end to short-term behavior, and seek the coordinated development of sustainable economic, social and environmental benefits; For tourists, protection is reflected in the improvement of environmental awareness and their own quality, and consciously protect tourism resources and the environment.

2. Professionalism. Eco-tourism has a high scientific and cultural connotation, which requires that the design and management of tourism facilities, tourism projects, tourism routes and tourism services should reflect strong professionalism, so that tourists can enjoy and satisfy the spirit of returning to nature in a short time, stimulate and improve tourists' awareness of loving and protecting nature, and then consciously protect tourism resources and environment; At the same time, the professionalism of tourism management is also one of the prerequisites for the coordinated development of tourism resources, environmental protection and sustainable utilization, as well as the three major benefits. Moreover, professionalism is also reflected in the psychology of tourists. Eco-tourists are not blind tourists who have no clear tourism purpose and participate in tourism fashion trends, nor tourists who think that money can buy out nature in pursuit of luxurious material enjoyment, but higher-level tourists who have clear requirements for appreciating, exploring and understanding nature and local culture.

3. Popularization. In China, the popularity of eco-tourism is not only reflected in the popularity of eco-tourists, but also in the popularity of tourism resources. Eco-tourism is based on traditional tourism. Therefore, eco-tourism in China should not be the privilege of people with high consumption and high quality. Ordinary workers, farmers, staff and students can become eco-tourists as long as they understand the culture and natural history of the local environment as their tourism purpose and can consciously protect and cherish the tourism resources and environment. As far as tourism resources are concerned, western countries only position eco-tourism as a natural landscape, while China is an ancient civilization with a long history of 5,000 years, which has naturally integrated with culture. Therefore, the object of eco-tourism in China is not only the natural landscape, but also the humanistic landscape in harmony with nature.

Second, the problems in the development of eco-tourism in China

1, tourism ecological consciousness is backward.

There are still some differences in the study of the connotation of ecotourism in China. Many people's understanding of eco-tourism only stays in nature, ignoring the significance of environmental education and cultural protection of eco-tourism. This misunderstanding directly led to many problems. First of all, the market positioning of ecotourism products is not clear. The experience of ecotourism development shows that ecotourism should be positioned as a high-level tourist group with a sense of responsibility. At present, in China, there is no distinction between traditional mass tourists and high-level ecotourism tourists, and the entry of a large number of tourists has caused damage to the environment of ecotourism areas. Secondly, the development and management of mass tourism moved to eco-tourism areas, and improper development and management caused environmental damage. For example, in the face of the Golden Week, the mass tourism market was widely attracted, leading to too many scenic spots.

2. Extensive development and blind utilization of tourism resources.

The relevant government departments in many areas are eager to develop tourism resources because they lack in-depth investigation and research and comprehensive scientific demonstration, evaluation and planning. Especially in the development of new tourist areas, developers are eager for quick success and instant benefit, and blindly carry out exploratory and extensive development in the absence of necessary argumentation and overall planning. Emphasis on development and neglect of protection in development have caused the destruction and waste of many valuable non-renewable tourism resources.

3. Lack of real scientific ecotourism planning.

The first is the development team. Eco-tourism is very professional, and at the same time, it needs to consider multiple goals such as ecological environment protection and community economic development. Therefore, it needs not only experts from all sides, but also local residents' representatives. However, the current ecotourism development planning team in China still follows the traditional personnel structure and planning methods of mass tourism planning, which is no longer in line with the requirements of ecotourism planning. Secondly, the awareness of protection in planning is indifferent, and there is a lack of necessary protection means and technology.

4. The scenic environment is seriously damaged.

At present, the damage to the natural environment caused by tourism development in China is mainly concentrated in the following aspects: First, the damage to the ecosystem caused by improper planning and development; Second, tourists' excessive entry exceeds the environmental carrying capacity, causing damage; Third, the garbage pollution caused by consumers' entry has not been well recovered and managed, which has caused damage. With the development of tourism, there are many hotels and guest houses in tourist areas. With the increasing number of tourists year by year, the buildings, halls and living facilities in the scenic area have also increased greatly, which has brought pollution such as domestic wastewater, garbage and feces, coal burning, etc., and reduced the environmental quality and ornamental value of the tourist area. According to relevant reports, in the nature reserves where eco-tourism activities have been carried out, 44% have garbage pollution, 12% have water pollution, 1 1% have noise pollution and 3% have air pollution. Due to the unreasonable development of developers, improper management of managers and uncivilized tourism of tourists, the natural beauty of natural and human landscapes, the partnership between man and nature and the sustainable development of tourism are destroyed.

5. Lack of eco-tourism professionals.

This is another major cause of eco-tourism problems. Eco-tourism in the true sense has professional requirements for product design, and the technology is more complicated. However, the practice of ecotourism development in China is still short, ecology and tourism are relatively independent, and there is a lack of professionals who know both ecological knowledge and tourism knowledge and can correctly grasp the connotation of ecotourism. More importantly, most of the resources on which eco-tourism depends belong to different departments. As a tourism management organization, Tourism Bureau is difficult to participate in the development and management of ecotourism, and most of them are developed by protection departments at the same time. No matter from the professional background or management level, it can not meet the diversified requirements of ecotourism for development and management personnel.

Three. Countermeasures for Sustainable Development of Ecotourism in China

1, comprehensive consideration, unified planning

Tourism environment is an organic and inseparable unity, which is not only a whole in which all elements are interrelated and restricted, but also a whole in which plots and regions are combined. If the construction or development activities lack comprehensive planning and long-term consideration, the original ecosystem will deteriorate. Doing a good job in tourism development planning and implementing the idea of resource and environmental protection is not only a guarantee for successful development, but also an important measure to prevent the destruction of resources and environment. The main factors that must be considered in eco-tourism planning include: the present situation, characteristics and spatial distribution of tourism resources; Categories, interests and needs of tourists; The economic and cultural background of the residents of the tourist destination and their ability to accommodate tourism activities; The tourism activities of tourists and the production and living activities of local residents are integrated with the tourism environment. When planning eco-tourism, we must analyze the importance of eco-tourism destinations, rationally divide functional areas, and draw up various planning schemes suitable for animal habitats, plant growth, tourists' sightseeing and residents' life. Make full use of rivers, lakes, mountains, green spaces and climatic conditions to create beautiful landscapes for tourists and a healthy, comfortable and quiet living environment for local residents.

2. Strengthen the propaganda work of eco-tourism and form a good public opinion atmosphere.

Eco-tourism is a kind of tourism activity with special interest, and it is still a new thing in the world, especially in China. Tourists, residents of tourist destinations, tour operators, government officials and even tourism academic circles still lack an understanding of what eco-tourism is, how to manage eco-tourism and how to evaluate its effect. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the propaganda work of eco-tourism, raise the environmental awareness of the whole people through various propaganda means and methods, make the public realize the harm of destroying tourism resources to their own lives and welfare, and let them take action spontaneously and take measures to protect tourism resources and the environment. However, the public's ecological awareness has not improved as a whole, and people's understanding of it is restricted by different knowledge levels and development stages. This requires the government and tourism enterprises to formulate some measures to improve the public's awareness of ecological environment protection. For example, the government regularly announces environmental quality information and the damage of pollution to the economy and health to the public, and through the publicity, introduction and arrangement of tourism activities, tourism enterprises can consciously increase the content related to environmental protection, such as planting memorial trees in scenic spots and carrying out knowledge competitions related to ecological environmental protection. In order to improve the public's awareness of ecological environment and form a good public opinion atmosphere and values of ecological environment protection.

3. Adhere to the policy of giving priority to protection, supplemented by tourism development.

The primary task of nature reserve construction is to protect the natural resources and environment in the reserve, and all other work must be carried out around the protection work, especially the development of natural resources in the reserve should not be at the expense of destroying resources and environment. Therefore, the development of eco-tourism must be based on ecological principles and aim at promoting the benign development of the ecological environment in nature reserves. On the premise of protecting natural resources and natural environment, it should be moderately developed according to the overall planning of nature reserves. The eco-tourism development area must be strictly limited in the experimental area of the reserve, and the tourist reception capacity and actual reception capacity should not be greater than the tourist ecological capacity of the reserve, so as to truly achieve the dual purposes of protection and sustainable development.

4. Establish and improve the system of laws and regulations, and develop eco-tourism in an orderly manner according to law. First of all, it is necessary to work out eco-tourism planning with a high starting point, high standards and high level, guide and coordinate the construction of eco-tourism resources, and bring eco-tourism into a planned and step-by-step track; Secondly, formulate management methods and rules and regulations suitable for eco-tourism, put ecological environment protection and eco-tourism resources development into the legal track, and carry out eco-tourism development according to law to avoid blindness and disorder of eco-tourism development and ensure that eco-tourism development is scientific, standardized and orderly.

I hope I can help you.